“Are cats turning your garden into their playground? Those neighborhood cats seem to view our garden soil as their personal litter box, leaving unwanted surprises behind. But, don’t worry! From personal experience, and, some research, we’ve jotted down simple and humane methods to keep cats out of garden. So, from aromatic plants to clever barriers, we’ve got you covered. It will help you to protect your garden from turning into their private restroom.
Let’s save your garden from those paw prints!” 🐾🌿
Contents
- 1 How to Keep Cats Out of Garden?
- 1.1 1. Use Plants to Deter Cats
- 1.2 2. You Can Use Scented Spray to Keep Cats Out of Garden
- 1.3 3. Install Motion Sprinkles in Your Garden
- 1.4 4. Physical Barriers to Keep Cats Out of Garden
- 1.5 5. Use Bird Netting to Keep Cats Out of Garden Beds
- 1.6 6. Ultrasonic Devices Help to Keep Feline Away
- 1.7 7. Wash up to Deter Garden Cats
- 1.8 8. Provide an Outdoor Litter Box
- 1.9 9. Invest in Cat Repellents
- 2 FAQs
How to Keep Cats Out of Garden?
1. Use Plants to Deter Cats
Planting stinky plants is one of the best ways to keep cats out of garden. I recommend you plant lavender, rosemary, rue, curry herb, pennyroyal, citronella, geraniums, lemon thyme, and oregano. Additionally, thorny plants are also a good option to deter cats out of your garden. Or you can also do one thing, sprinkle the leaves of these plants around the corner, which you are trying to protect from felines.
Tip: Coleus canina, also known as the scaredy-cat plant; is said to be very effective at keeping cats away.🪴🚫🐈
2. You Can Use Scented Spray to Keep Cats Out of Garden
Just like other animals, cats also don’t like strong scent aroma. If you are tired of protecting your garden from feline mischief, we recommend you try homemade strong center spray, it will surely give you effective results. As we have an idea, cats don’t like citrus smell, so you can make citrus spray at home, or purchase it from the market.
The next step is to spray it around your garden beds, flower beds, or garden corners, which cats like to visit often. In the next few days, you will observe that cats will stop visiting those corners. Because they cannot tolerate the citrus smell, and, they are not able to track their smell glands. Eventually, they will stop coming back to your garden, hence your plants can thrive easily.
3. Install Motion Sprinkles in Your Garden
One of the best ways is to install motion-activated sprinklers in your garden, it is an effective method to deter cats. These devices work by detecting movement and then spraying a burst of water. Discouraging cats from entering the garden area without harming them. Furthermore, the sprinklers are triggered only when necessary, so you don’t need to worry about your plants.
4. Physical Barriers to Keep Cats Out of Garden
If you create a physical barrier for cats, it will automatically stop them from entering your garden space. For example, you can embed wooden chopsticks, plastic forks, marbles, or stones in the soil. It will give an uneven surface, which will make it difficult for cats to walk in smoothly. You can also use fencing around the garden to protect plants from getting destroyed by felines.
Remember one thing, whichever barriers you create, make sure they are safe and do not harm the cats or other wildlife.
5. Use Bird Netting to Keep Cats Out of Garden Beds
Do you know, bird nets can help you to keep cats out of your garden? Yes, you heard me right, these plastic nets not only keep birds, and squirrels out of your garden, but, also, effectively work in feline cases. Just need to cover your flower beds with bird netting. In this way, you can easily stop felines from ruining your garden beds. Plus, you can lay strips of nets between plants, so that cats are not able to ruin the soil by digging.
💡Will coffee grounds keep rabbits out of garden?🤔
6. Ultrasonic Devices Help to Keep Feline Away
Another simple way is to use ultrasonic devices to keep cats away from your garden. These devices are specially designed to deter animals or pets. It has unpleasant sounds at a frequency, which humans cannot hear, but, felines and other pets do. Additionally, you can get motion-activated ultrasonic devices, it works only when animals are nearby.
For instance, you can keep Broox Upgraded Solar Cat Repellent, near flower beds, to stop felines’ entry into your yard. This effective device will help you to get rid of unwelcome cat visitors. It contains a motion detector system that detects feline movements and emits powerful ultrasonic sound and flashing LED light to scare them.
7. Wash up to Deter Garden Cats
Cats tend to return to the same place repeatedly, marking their territories with their scent glands or urine. We recommend you clean your garden or yard, and, keep it odor-free to discourage feline visits. You just need to wash up the garden area with water, or soap liquid, it will help you to remove the urine odor. After cleaning, spay a strong scent spray, that felines cannot tolerate, it will give you more effective results.
But, if you think cleaning once in a blue moon is enough, then you are wrong. To keep your garden cat-free, you need to repeatedly clean the area, and remove their marked territories.
8. Provide an Outdoor Litter Box
Wondering how to keep cats out of your flower garden? I have a solution, try reverse psychology. Yes, you heard it right, try to lure cats by providing them with an outdoor litter box. In this way, you will easily succeed in diverting felines’ minds from plants to the new litter tray.
We recommend you keep the litter box near catnip or mint plants because cats love the fragrance of these plants, and they will not leave the area easily. Plus, keeping a litter box near these plants will help you protect your garden beds from any feline-induced damage.
9. Invest in Cat Repellents
Last but not least, you can stop neighbors or street cats from entering your garden, using the best quality commercial cat repellent. Several pet repellents are available in the market, so you can easily purchase the best one to save your flower beds from cats. For instance, you can use PetSafe SSSCAT Spray Pet Deterrent, which will surely help you to keep feline pals away from your garden beds. All you need to do is just spray it on the garden beds, plants, windows, and other places where cats can easily enter.
In the above paragraph, we have given you homemade spray suggestions, but these commercial sprays will also work more effectively. One of the advantages of using cat repellents is that they will give you faster results, are completely safe for feline health, and it won’t damage your plants, or vegetables’ health.
Note: Remember, commercial cat repellents require regular reapplication to maintain their power.
You can also read; Keeping Rabbits Out of Garden: Tips & Tricks!
Also Read; How to keep stray dogs out of your yard? Why are my squash leaves turning yellow?
FAQs
How do I keep cats out of my flower beds naturally?
Install water sprinklers in your garden, it will help to startle cats with a burst of water and will discourage them from coming into your home garden. There are other natural, several strategies, which you can use to keep your plants safe from cats.
What natural cat repellent is safe for plants?
Well, citrus peel spray is one of the best natural cat repellents, you can use to deter cats from your garden, and it is completely safe for your feline. All you need to do is boil the citrus peel in water, after cooling down, use the solution as a spray in your yard. Or sprinkle it around your plants or flower beds, its strong scent will discourage cats’ visits to your home garden.
How do I keep my cat from using my flower bed as a litter box?
You can plant cat-repellent flora such as lemon thyme, or lavender in your garden. These have scents that cats cannot tolerate, and will eventually stop coming back to your home garden, and in this way, you can save flower beds.
How to keep neighbors’ cats out of my garden?
To deter neighbor cats; you can use stinky plants, chicken wire, electric fencing, cat repellents, or water sprinkles can also help you to keep them away from your garden.
Hello, I’m Rose Lehman, the content writer of cozynest. I have been a gardener for over 5 years, and I have a certificate in master gardening from the Oregon State University Extension Service. I enjoy writing about all aspects of gardening, from the basics to the advanced, and from the practical to the creative. I also love to explore different types of gardens, cultures, and styles, and share them with our readers. My goal is to inspire and inform our audience, and help them grow their own cozynest.
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